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Using LW 8.2.1 and the 8.2 fbx, when I import everything vanishes. No meshes, not nothing but a single null.

When I use the 8.0 fbx I get the objects but no animation, no bones, nothing but nulls.

When I use the 7.5 fbx I get errors.

Is there a solution?

Should I install the LW 8.2 update and will that revert me from 8.2.1 and fix my problem or will it just make my life worse?

Thanks!

ArneK

07 July 2005, 11:48 AM

There are newer updates to the FBX plugin for both Windows and Mac OSX on Alias site here (http://www.alias.com/glb/eng/products-services/product_details.jsp?productId=1900004) :)

Gwot

07 July 2005, 02:15 PM

Are you "importing" or "merging" the fbx files into LW? I've never been able to get a proper import into LW, but in using MB to animate my LW characters I've never had a problems with merging to the source mesh/bones in LW from MB. Also, I'm still using the 7.5 plugins with 8.2/3 because I could never get the 8.x version to work.

Cman

07 July 2005, 02:25 PM

Sadly I am using the most up-to-date plugins.

I mean, just exporting the FBX file from LW and re-import it doesn't work!

Cman

07 July 2005, 02:32 PM

@GWOT
I was importing. It's just a test at this point and it's looking bad.
I'll try merging and using the older plugs as you suggest. Thanks.

Cman

07 July 2005, 02:50 PM

The attached scene is simply a cylinder with a few bones.

Only the bone that's keyframed will export/import through FBX. The IK is lost.
This is even with the 7.5 fbx plug.

I get the object and the root bone's keyframed animation, but the IK is gone.

Thanks for anyone that takes a few minutes.

Gwot

07 July 2005, 05:10 PM

You won't get IK out of LW and into fbx. In fact, fbx doesn't support IK as far as I know, and even if it did I don't think LW would be able to export it anyway. With FBX you are basically dealing with baked animation like you would with motion capture.

Try to figure out how to work with just the skeleton and merged animation before you mess with adding IK into the mix. And check out IKBooster when you do... it's great for working with mocap or baked animation like you get from fbx files.
The basic process of creating a character in LW and animating it in fbx is pretty straight forward.

1a. Create skelegons or bones and weight maps to deform mesh
1b. Name LW bones according to Motion Builder skeletal naming convention - or remap your own bone names to match those of the Motion Builder template once you've imported your character into MB.

2. Parent character heirarchy to a null named "Reference" so that Motion Builder and LW can recognize the character as fbx compatible.

3. Export to fbx from LW.

4. Load the FBX and characterize it in Motion Builder (remapping custom bones to the MB skeletons if you didn't follow the MB naming convention.

5. Animate character using the MB control rig

6. Plot animation from control rig to skeleton, and save as fbx. You are baking all the IK and FK, constraints, expressions, etc. onto the original imported skeleton at this point.

7. Merge the animated fbx file back into the original scene you used to export. You may have to manually pick the FBX_Root from the merge popup dialog as the plugin seems to have difficulty finding it automatically, but this is not a problem since there's usually only a couple of root nodes to choose from in the popup. Even with trial and error you will find it. Just keep trying to merge until you see your baked animation show up on the LW character. =]

* One thing I do to help make it easier to identify the FBX root in the merge file is to rename LWS:_FBX_ROOT to something more identifiable in motion builder as soon as I characterize. Even just appending the character's name onto the end of the original name so you can immediately spot it in the merge popup. This becomes much more important when you are animating many characters in the same fbx file and need to merge animation back into LW from there.

c-g

07 July 2005, 05:21 PM

Using LW 8.2.1 and the 8.2 fbx, when I import everything vanishes. No meshes, not nothing but a single null.

When I use the 8.0 fbx I get the objects but no animation, no bones, nothing but nulls.

When I use the 7.5 fbx I get errors.

Is there a solution?

Should I install the LW 8.2 update and will that revert me from 8.2.1 and fix my problem or will it just make my life worse?

What does 8.3 do?

Cman

07 July 2005, 07:08 PM

I've read too many bad things about 8.3. I'll wait for Siggraph before I do any further upgrading.

@GWOT
I forgot about the baking. Thanks.

vid2k2

08 August 2005, 03:18 PM

with regard to FBX import:

After d'lding the FBX plug in for 8.2 Mac OSX,
it shows up in the plug-ins folder but not in the "editable" list under utilities.
When "adding" the plugin, fbx82 shows up in the list but won't show in the edited list.

Though I exported a file from another app and saved it as an FBX file .... it is grayed out
when wanting to load the object.

Any suggestions?

As a side note, I can open exported 3ds files but lose the heirarchy and surfaces.
Objective: to model and surface in Cinema 4D and export to LW 8.3

TIA,

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08 August 2005, 03:18 PM

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